Millions of rental units exist in the United States, such as in multifamily apartment complexes. Typically a utility service such as electricity and/or gas is always turned on at a multifamily unit. Always-on service is a result of impracticality and service fees for utility companies to turn on and shut off service to individual units. Unlike services that can be restored or disconnected remotely, such as cable and telecommunication services, electricity and gas companies have to physically send out personnel to perform such services, which is costly. Additionally, property owners often need utility services in vacant units for maintenance and to prevent build up of un-desirable odor due to lack of HVAC operation.
To permit always-on or continuous service, Continuous Service Agreements (CSAs) are used that authorize the transfer of payment responsibility from owners to move-in tenants or to the owner from a tenant on move out. In most cases, the tenants of the units are responsible for payment of utility services as provided in their lease agreements, which often require that a tenant contact their local utility on move-in to sign up for services. Under CSAs, until a tenant contacts a utility company after move-in, or after a tenant vacates a unit, the owners will typically be responsible for payment of utility services. Because the average turn over for tenants in multifamily units is high, the use of a CSA exposes property owners to a significant amount of utility-related expenses when a tenant moves out or fails to take responsibility for utility charges after move in. Although this problem applies to many multifamily units, the problem also exists for condos, leases, and other arrangements where a CSA exists and a non-owner tenant is responsible for utility service charges.
Currently, when a multifamily unit tenant fails to apply for a utility service under their name the property manager or owner will receive the utility bills for the occupied units, which may take 60 days or longer before the owner becomes aware that such situation even exists. The property manager or owner then must go through the tedious and complex task of matching bills for occupied units with tenants, which requires the correct information to permit a property manager to identify the tenants that owe money for utilities. This task is made even more difficult due to unit turnover because bills often apply to tenants within a particular unit months earlier. Often the situation goes un-noticed for months and results in loss of income for owners as owners and property managers have less ability to collect monies from tenants. Furthermore, in the event that tenants call their local utility company and ask for a disconnection of service under their name before moving out, owners can become prematurely responsible for utility expenses that should be paid by the tenant.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method to that quickly identify when tenants fail to take responsibility for payment of utilities. It would also be beneficial for the system and method to alert unit owners and tenants that the tenant is receiving services for which the owner is incurring costs.